Theology of God

Is it possible , given the rules of authentic Judeo-Christian (Catholic theology , to call God `Mother`

When thinking of and communicating with God mankind often finds it easier to have concrete images rather than just an abstraction . In the book by Henry Morgan `Approaches to Prayer ' there are many examples of how prayer can be helped by the use of concrete images . These vary from Biblical stories and images to such things as journals , prayer boards the Eucharistic symbols etc The church has always used such symbolism The web page `God Web ' for

instance has a long list of symbols used to represent God . These include birds , food , colors etc

Jesus understood this need people have , a form of anthropomorphism , but in this case anthropotheism , a form of HYPERLINK "http /en .wikipedia .org /wiki /Physitheism " \o "Physitheism " physitheism , that is the giving of a physical form to God . When the disciples asked him to teach them to pray he began , `Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name . Commenting on this Janice Allred in her book `God as Mother and Other Theological Essays ' writes :-

Jesus taught us to pray to the Father , not to set up barriers between us and

God , but to remove them . [God is also] our Mother , a Mother who knows

our needs before we can express them , a Mother who is here before we

called out to her

When Jesus himself was in prayer he used the same salutation `Abba ' or Father , as in John 17 when he prays after the Last Supper . On other occasions he used the title in public as in John10 where it is used several times . He himself was obviously male and referred to himself as `Son of Man ' as in Matthew 8 v 20 . When explaining to the disciples in the upper room that the Spirit would come upon them , the Spirit is described in English as masculine , `I will send him to you , John 16 v 7 and elsewhere , though in both Greek and Hebrew the word used for Spirit is feminine , so we see that this is a matter of semantics rather than theology

In Genesis 1 we have the creation of mankind , made in the image of God `God created man in his image in the divine image he created him male and female he created them , Genesis I v 27 . And these creatures , made in the image of God , of course became the father and mother of the whole human race

Yet we know that almighty God , creator and sustainer of the universe is not a man . Hosea 11 v 9 , `For I am God and not man , the Holy One present among you . In the second book of his space trilogy , `Voyage to Venus ' Ransom explains that the Oyarsa has been present for a long time , but has not been waiting because he has no concept of time , not having a body that ever tires or becomes restless , something that the author describes two pages...